The government will propose the National Assembly to adjust the targeted GDP growth rate of 2009 to 5 percent from 6.5 percent, said Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dungz on March 31.
The PM is chairing a regular government conference, the first online ever so far, with the participation of leaders of ministries and 63 localities nationwide. The three-day conference was designed for discussions on socio-economic development in the first quarter of 2009 and tasks for the whole year.
PM Dungz said the ongoing economic crisis was exerting impacts on all fields, particularly investment and exports. However, in this context, the national economy still sees positive progress, the PM said.
“We can hope that the economic growth in the next quarters will increase, the budget deficit will not exceed 8 percent and the inflation rate will be kept below 6 percent,” he said.
During the past two days, the meeting heard Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc and Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh reporting on the implementation of socio-economic development tasks in 2008 and the plan for 2009, urgent solutions to prevent economic slowdown, and the State budget expenditure in 2008 and estimates for 2009.
The participants agreed on the major task to the year-end, which is to continue solutions to prevent economic slowdown, maintain economic growth, and ensure social security and sustainable development.
They also agreed upon additional solutions such as accelerating the disbursement of capital sourced from the State budget, government bonds, official development assistance (ODA), and foreign direct investment (FDI), and slashing the interest rate of loans for development investment from 6.9 percent to 3 percent per year.
On March 31 afternoon, Minister of Construction Nguyen Hong Quan presented a draft resolution on building accommodations for students, workers in industrial zones, and low income earners in urban areas.
The draft targets to provide housing for 60 percent of students and 50 percent of workers in industrial zones by 2015.
It proposes that the People’s Committees of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi be allowed to build 200,000 accommodations for rent for students at a total cost of 8 trillion VND sourced from government bonds. The projects will be started in 2009 and completed by the second quarter of 2011.
On the last day, April 1, the conference will discuss several bills, including the amended Press Law, the revised Laws on Cultural Heritages, and Medical Practices./.